AJCHobby Lobby issued a Facebook apology this week after a New Jersey worker reportedly told a Jewish customer the arts and crafts retailer didn’t “cater to you people” when asked why Hanukkah merchandise could not be found on store shelves...

Berwitz said he then called the store to ask about the absence of Hanukkah items even though Christmas products were stocked, and he was told “because Mr. Green is the owner of the company, he’s a Christian and those are his values," RNS reported.

The caller was referring to billionaire Steve Green, who founded the Hobby Lobby chain in 1972 and has overseen its growth from a 300-square-foot store to chain of more than 560 locations that average 55,000 square feet and have more than 67,000 items on shelves.

With a portrait of Green, the company’s website says the chain is “committed to honoring the Lord in all we do by operating the company in a manner consistent with biblical principles.”

Just those in the back half, apparently. Let the conditional apologies commence!

Hobby Lobby (via Facebook)“Hobby Lobby apologizes for any possible employee comments that may have offended anyone, especially our Jewish customers and friends. Comments like these do not reflect the feelings of the Green family or Hobby Lobby. We are investigating this matter and do not tolerate discrimination at our company or our stores.

“Hobby Lobby is currently working with our buyers over our merchandise selection. Our customers have brought this to our attention, and we are currently evaluating our holiday items and what we will carry in the future.”

Might wanna speed that evaluation up. Hanukkah kicks off November 27 this year.

I also find appalling all the reader comments defending Green and Hobby Lobby. So much so that I wonder if they were planted.

They're quick to blame a lowly store clerk for the controversy (whom they've speculated was either a "pimple-faced high schooler" or some Black partner in the Obama anti-US conspiracy), while ignoring that someone higher up in the chain confirmed the anti-Jewish policy.

So instead these bigots focus on the hapless messenger, who was only revealing the truth, and not on the anti-Jewish message from Hobby Lobby. Even the official company response inadvertently admits the knowing omission of Jewish items from their shelves.

And obliquely makes it sound as if the problem is with their merchandise buyers. Which again is shifting the blame, since in a large national chain the buyers are concerned with choosing suppliers and good deals, often from local sources, and they do not make decisions concerning what product types to stock, though they may recommend. The kinds of merchandize sold is a matter of nationwide corporate policy, not made at the buyer level.

And so therefore a conscious policy to exclude Jewish items, and the lame attempts to CYA after it blew-up as a national story, makes Hobby Lobby a place I will never shop.